Common YouTube provider lies, and the products they push that you should avoid.

[RABid]

I'll go first...

 

PaperLike screen protector for iPad. Advertised as "Transparent Matte Screen Protector for Notetaking and Drawing like on Paper". The truth. It is not transparent. Not at all. In fact, it makes your wonderful color screen look like a $90 monitor. They always show people applying screen protectors with the device off. I suggest you leave the device on and look once you have half of the screen coated. See if that is the result you want. The other thing to think about. That rough coating on the Paperlike screen is bound to wear down your expensive Apple Pin. By the way, I ordered an ESR screen protector. Hoping for much better results.

[RABid]

I'll also go second. See a lot of providers still pushing SanDisk Pro external SSD's. Before you buy one of these, like I did, search for ScanDisk SSD problems. Wow, they put out a big batch of bad SSD's and never owned up to the problems. Luckily I got mine from Amazon. If anyone wants a good SSD at a cheap price, Amazon currently has the Samsung T7 Shield on sale for around 50% off. I have one arriving today.

[analogika]

17 hours ago, RABid said:

I'll also go second. See a lot of providers still pushing ScanDisk Pro external SSD's. Before you buy one of these, like I did, search for ScanDisk SSD problems. Wow, they put out a big batch of bad SSD's and never owned up to the problems. Luckily I got mine from Amazon. If anyone wants a good SSD at a cheap price, Amazon currently has the Samsung T7 Shield on sale for around 50% off. I have one arriving today.

They're called "SanDisk", and a number of the problematic drives were issued firmware updates that address the problem. A bunch, however, were not. 

Some of the Samsung drives apparently suffer from an issue where read/write speeds are reduced to about 50% of what they initially were. I'm not seeing that on any of my six T5/T7 drives, but I have one where using it to transfer Logic files to our stage machines will invariably result in file corruption on certain songs. 

[RABid]

2 hours ago, analogika said:

They're called "SanDisk"

Oops, type. My first one was still bad, even with the firmware update. Amazon sent me a replacement which I am still using on my MacBookPro. At the time I did not realize how widespread the problem was or I would have gotten a refund. Bought a Crucial X8 as a cheap but not too cheap backup. It resisted taking an APFS format which makes me worry. Starting to wonder if there is a really good SSD.

[Anderton]

4 hours ago, RABid said:

Starting to wonder if there is a really good SSD.

 

I don't trust myself to pick a good one. I ask PC Audio Labs for recommendations on what they use. The SSDs they chose for my Windows machine are great. The SSD in a 2016 MacPro is still going strong, so it's possible. 

 

At the moment, for general purpose storage, I'm still using hard drives. They're cheap, high capacity, and proven technology. Noise doesn't matter because they're not used in recording or mixing.

As to the YouTube companies...if I see ONE MORE AD about buying something that generates "pro chords" and "instant hit loops," I'm going to scream.

[CyberGene]

On 5/26/2023 at 10:05 PM, RABid said:

PaperLike screen protector for iPad. Advertised as "Transparent Matte Screen Protector for Notetaking and Drawing like on Paper". The truth. It is not transparent. Not at all. In fact, it makes your wonderful color screen look like a $90 monitor. They always show people applying screen protectors with the device off. I suggest you leave the device on and look once you have half of the screen coated. See if that is the result you want. The other thing to think about. That rough coating on the Paperlike screen is bound to wear down your expensive Apple Pin.

I had one on my ex-iPad. What you describe is actually what is advertised, not sure why you expected something different. I liked it a lot. The idea is that your pen will experience resistance when drawing or writing, as on real paper. And it feels like writing on paper. Expectedly it will wear its tip faster. There’s a spare one with every pen anyway. And since it’s matte it makes the screen feel less sharp but in no way it lowers the resolution, it just appears with less glare. I believe you just had the wrong expectations. I will have to check their website again but from my memory all of that was clearly stated. 

[RABid]

3 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

not sure why you expected something different

It is simple. I have an iPad Pro 12.9” with a really, really nice screen. Beautiful, rich colors that artists love to see. While PaperLike delivers on the feel of paper that they advertise, what they don’t say is that it makes your screen look like you are using a washed out 20 year old iPad. The benefits of that expensive screen you paid for are gone with the application of their product. And not surprisingly, none of the paid YouTubbers mention it either.

[CyberGene]

Well, I understand why you may not like it. I decided to remove the protector before giving the iPad to my daughter. But she’s so careless with it I am kind of sorry that I removed the protector. But I just found I ordered two PaperLike protectors, so I may put the second one again and see how it goes and whether the kid will hate it. She’s very rigid about change though, so I guess she’ll be on your side 😀

[o0Ampy0o]

 

On 5/28/2023 at 6:01 AM, RABid said:

It is simple. I have an iPad Pro 12.9” with a really, really nice screen. Beautiful, rich colors that artists love to see. While PaperLike delivers on the feel of paper that they advertise, what they don’t say is that it makes your screen look like you are using a washed out 20 year old iPad. The benefits of that expensive screen you paid for are gone with the application of their product. And not surprisingly, none of the paid YouTubbers mention it either.

 

 

On 5/26/2023 at 12:05 PM, RABid said:

I'll go first...

 

PaperLike screen protector for iPad. Advertised as "Transparent Matte Screen Protector for Notetaking and Drawing like on Paper". The truth. It is not transparent. Not at all. In fact, it makes your wonderful color screen look like a $90 monitor. They always show people applying screen protectors with the device off. I suggest you leave the device on and look once you have half of the screen coated. See if that is the result you want. The other thing to think about. That rough coating on the Paperlike screen is bound to wear down your expensive Apple Pin. By the way, I ordered an ESR screen protector. Hoping for much better results.

 

I don't know how much experience you have with using computers for art but a matte coated display will have diminished clarity and color compared with a glossy clear display. Transparent is a relative term. In displays we are talking about light passing through. Water is transparent but color, proportion and clarity get distorted the more water there is between the object and the surface. "Transparent" and "crystal clear" are not synonymous. Even a mirror imparts color distortion. You would not be able to use Paperlike as a screen coating if you could not see through it. The observation that "none of the Youtubers mention it" illustrates how some things are obvious and don't need to be mentioned. Paperlike is not a screen protector. It is a layer of film which helps make the slick screen feel like drawing on paper when using an Apple Pencil. That texture and durability to withstand the friction of the pencil is impossible to achieve without sacrificing clarity and color saturation. Even a matte screen protector which is only to reduce glare sacrifices image quality.

 

[RABid]

Well, my issue is not with PaperLike as much as with the content providers. You are correct, a matt finish is always going to reduce color. But these content providers are targeting artists, a group for which color is very important. Not mentioning the obvious drop in screen quality is a disservice to their viewers in an attempt to sell more of the product. A true, unbiased reviewer would give a before and after comparison of how the screen looks, and not just talk about how different it feels.

[Notes_Norton]

On 5/27/2023 at 4:04 PM, Anderton said:

At the moment, for general purpose storage, I'm still using hard drives. They're cheap, high capacity, and proven technology

While I have SSDs in my computer, and use flash drives for a lot of storage, my computer and the most important files get backed up to a good ol' magnetic hard drive. I have one of those docks where you put the drive in like bread in a toaster, and keep multiple backups.

 

I not only back up the drive to a HD, but daily data using SyncToy. I don't think Microsoft makes SyncToy anymore, but there must be a decent alternative.

 

And for business and extremely important files, I back them up to the cloud, so if a meteor comes down, goes through my roof and hits my computer, I won't lose my data.

 

Notes ♫

[zeronyne]

So Josh Scott trolled the entire pedal corksniffing community a few times, and still, the other pedal influencers go about their day like he didn’t call all of them out. This happened a few times. 
 

He went an entire summer demoing pedals, and everyone thought he was going through his custom tube amp, and it was actually a Kemper everyone was hearing.

 

He showed how ridiculous overdrive elitists were by blatantly manipulating the price of used DOD Bad Monkey pedals. That one is still going on.

 

He showed that an original Pod, a completely digital distortion, and many “crap” pedals sound just as good as any boutique pedal in many real world applications.

 

The hypocrisy and incestuousness of the pedal enthusiast industry is mind-boggling.

[RABid]

Ordered myself a DJI Mini Pro 3 drone today. The drone comes with a fixed 1.7F lens so it is recommended that you get an ND filter for taking video and pictures in the bright daylight. I got on Youtube and watched 4 videos on filters for the Mini Pro 3. All four featured Freewell filters and they stated that they were given the filters to review. All gave Freewell an excellent review. Then I watched a 5th review by someone who was given two different sets of Freewell filters and went out and bought sets from 3 other brands. He did very scientific test to measure color change and accuracy of the ND rating. The two sets of Freewell came in last in most every test. I'm glad I watched the fifth review.

[Anderton]

17 hours ago, RABid said:

Ordered myself a DJI Mini Pro 3 drone today. The drone comes with a fixed 1.7F lens so it is recommended that you get an ND filter for taking video and pictures in the bright daylight. I got on Youtube and watched 4 videos on filters for the Mini Pro 3. All four featured Freewell filters and they stated that they were given the filters to review. All gave Freewell an excellent review. Then I watched a 5th review by someone who was given two different sets of Freewell filters and went out and bought sets from 3 other brands. He did very scientific test to measure color change and accuracy of the ND rating. The two sets of Freewell came in last in most every test. I'm glad I watched the fifth review.

 

"User reviews" have a reverse problem as well. In many that I've seen, 1 star doesn't stand for "bad product." It stands for "user didn't read manual and follow instructions."

 

Another problem is that reviews on the net don't die. I remember multiple reviews that excoriated an M-Audio keyboard for something (I don't remember what). M-Audio came out with a pretty fast update that fixed the problem. However, because they kept the keyboard's name, if you searched on reviews for that keyboard, the old reviews came out on top because they had the most views. So, you'd never know the problem had been fixed unless you clicked down to page 5 or whatever.

[Strays Dave]

I pay $12 per month for YouTube premium.  I no longer suffer thru the advertisements.  I don't have cable or Netflix or any other streaming.  I think of YT Premium as a sort of poor man's cable TV.   And these days there are so many digital TV channels available over the air I never miss cable.  

[RABid]

3 hours ago, Strays Dave said:

I pay $12 per month for YouTube premium. 

I also have YouTube premium, the only way to watch YouTube. I also have Dish. If my sister was not living with me I would have dropped Dish by now and moved to a cheaper streaming service. The closest over the air station to me is Hazard’s one channel, 60 miles away. I’m hoping to get cable soon for the much faster Internet.

[o0Ampy0o]

7 hours ago, Anderton said:

 

"User reviews" have a reverse problem as well. In many that I've seen, 1 star doesn't stand for "bad product." It stands for "user didn't read manual and follow instructions."

 

Another problem is that reviews on the net don't die. I remember multiple reviews that excoriated an M-Audio keyboard for something (I don't remember what). M-Audio came out with a pretty fast update that fixed the problem. However, because they kept the keyboard's name, if you searched on reviews for that keyboard, the old reviews came out on top because they had the most views. So, you'd never know the problem had been fixed unless you clicked down to page 5 or whatever.

 

 

Regarding reviews not dying, I know of a website which has a time limit on reviews. Bad and good reviews automatically go away after a set time. People utilizing the website as a platform to offer their services still need a steady flow of good transactions to wash away the bad. There is nothing to stop others from posting parroted hear-say and erroneous information. A scammer will go away then return once all of the existing reviews expire and are unavailable forever. But there are bots which gather review data giving it eternal life, sometimes in a homogenized form.

 

Some people will make someone / a company pay dearly for a perceived slight and that can just be not getting what they wanted when they are not eligible. That sort of thing is evident on Yelp. People at a restaurant are some of the biggest abusers of a review system.  Many people take everything personally and have no empathy or compassion. You only see the reviewer's side of it. There is an opportunity for the business to respond but there is really only one acceptable response and that is to apologize and offer a chance for them to make it up to the reviewer. There is no opportunity for the owner to describe the bad reviewer accurately from their POV without looking bad. A reviewer can be anonymous but a business is a fixture (virtual or not) depending on a good reputation.

 

Some people will post a review when they have not used the business in order to grind a personal ax. In one instance there was an article written in the local paper accusing a business owner of racism.  The business website only has a menu but you can gleam some additional information reading their Facebook page. I went there looking to see if they were open on a certain holiday and I saw people making comments about the racism accusation. They were just there to add fuel to that fire. Their comments did not reflect personal experience with the business.

 

[Anderton]

On 5/26/2023 at 2:05 PM, RABid said:

PaperLike screen protector for iPad. Advertised as "Transparent Matte Screen Protector for Notetaking and Drawing like on Paper". The truth. It is not transparent. Not at all. In fact, it makes your wonderful color screen look like a $90 monitor.

 

This sounds like it could solve a real problem for me - how to take pictures of a screen, whether iPad, Helix, whatever, and not have to worry about glare. It's almost impossible to get rid of reflections when shooting screens. Does what you're describing cut down on glare?

[o0Ampy0o]

28 minutes ago, Anderton said:

 

This sounds like it could solve a real problem for me - how to take pictures of a screen, whether iPad, Helix, whatever, and not have to worry about glare. It's almost impossible to get rid of reflections when shooting screens. Does what you're describing cut down on glare?

 

Do you need to take a picture of the actual display? A screen capture would not work?

 

The Paperlike product has a different objective. It has to accommodate the simulated feeling of drawing on paper and to also endure that friction. A matte screen is meant to reduce glare and reflections. I have not seen matte screen protectors to acquire separately and apply to glossy monitors of computers, however, they are available for tablets and cell phones.

 

If you are going to use a camera and shoot pictures of a computer monitor displaying content you will need to carefully position the camera and possibly have photographic lights. Glare could still be a problem to deal with. A display with a matte screen is intended to reduce glare and reflections for viewing purposes not photography. If the display content is important enough I would consider Photoshopping a screen capture image into the scene, that is if you must include the display hardware in the scene.

[Anderton]

1 hour ago, o0Ampy0o said:

Do you need to take a picture of the actual display? A screen capture would not work? [snip] I have not seen matte screen protectors to acquire separately and apply to glossy monitors of computers, however, they are available for tablets and cell phones.

 

For multieffects and synths, there often isn't a computer editor available, and the hardware doesn't provide a way to do a screen dump Doing the Helix book was a breeze, because Helix Native runs on a computer and the window looks just like the screen on the hardware unit.

 

A matte screen protector for a tablet (that's plastic, so I can cut it to shape) sounds like it might work...

 

 

[AROIOS]

On 5/31/2023 at 9:29 AM, zeronyne said:

...
He went an entire summer demoing pedals, and everyone thought he was going through his custom tube amp, and it was actually a Kemper everyone was hearing.

...

He showed that an original Pod, a completely digital distortion, and many “crap” pedals sound just as good as any boutique pedal in many real world applications.
...

Same reason I don't trust any subjective reviews without at least going through a single blind test.
 

Humans (as are most animals) are incredible "comparison machines", but are very dull at judging absolute values. This, combined with our inherent cognitive/perceptual biases, and smart marketing/manipulation by companies, makes most subjective reviews/opinions worth little more than mind farts.

[o0Ampy0o]

49 minutes ago, Anderton said:

 

For multieffects and synths, there often isn't a computer editor available, and the hardware doesn't provide a way to do a screen dump Doing the Helix book was a breeze, because Helix Native runs on a computer and the window looks just like the screen on the hardware unit.

 

A matte screen protector for a tablet (that's plastic, so I can cut it to shape) sounds like it might work...

 

 

 

You may consider a plate of matte / anti-glare glass/plexiglass which is sold with a picture frame. You could construct a rubber, foam or other form of padded frame from items available at a hardware or home improvement store. This would make it portable and temporary so you did not have to alter the device itself. Especially useful if the gear is borrowed / loaned for a project. Depending on the orientation of the surface you would lay it over or rest it against or even use tape to position it over the screen area and then adjust it to eliminate artifacts. Also, the screens on these devices may not be glass like on tablets and cells so a clean bubble-free application needed could be impaired. 

[Anderton]

3 hours ago, o0Ampy0o said:

 

You may consider a plate of matte / anti-glare glass/plexiglass which is sold with a picture frame. You could construct a rubber, foam or other form of padded frame from items available at a hardware or home improvement store. This would make it portable and temporary so you did not have to alter the device itself. Especially useful if the gear is borrowed / loaned for a project. Depending on the orientation of the surface you would lay it over or rest it against or even use tape to position it over the screen area and then adjust it to eliminate artifacts. Also, the screens on these devices may not be glass like on tablets and cells so a clean bubble-free application needed could be impaired. 

 

Excellent advice! Thank you.